USA | Caring For our watersheds

2011 Fort Collins, CO, USA

The Environmental Club is proud to bring to Poudre High School’s campus a rain garden, also called bioremediation garden. A rain garden is a depression that catches rainwater runoff from hard surfaces such as parking lots and roof tops. The plants help improve absorption and filter the water as it soaks into the ground. It is a simple and effective way to reduce the pollution that travels in Stormwater and eventually ends up in our waterways, like the Poudre River. On the surface, a rain garden consists of various plants and grasses that are able to survive in both wet and dry environments. Other materials can be found in the garden as well, such as rocks, mulch, and soil. Here’s why it is useful: as runoff water and precipitation percolate through the rain garden, the plants and natural materials filter out and adsorb to pollutants. As a result, the water that leaving the garden is cleaner, and so are our rivers!

A huge thank you to Nutrien for donating $1,000 to implement this project.

2011 Greeley, Colorado, USA

Alyson Foust, Jesse Freeman and Levi Trevino from Greeley Central High decided to become “toilet heroes” to help their school become more environmentally friendly.

Central high school contributes to the misuse of water. Approximately 1,500 students and staff use the restrooms each at the school. With each flush draining 3.5 gallons, about 5, 250 gallons are flushed each day. Each month students are in school – approximately 22 days each month – 115,500 gallons are flushed. 1,155,000 gallons are flushed each school year (10 months).

This implementation is able to have a large impact on the Cache la Poudre watershed. With the help of the Greeley Schools Facilities Department, who actually did the plumbing and the students’ mentor, Ruth Quade, who guided them through the rebate process with the City of the Greeley, the students’ replaced ALL the toilets in the school to low flow toilets.

This project was able to change 41 toilets in the school to water saving low-flow toilets. The newly installed toilets will act as a pilot to converting toilets into low flow toilets throughout the districts 30. This would have a dramatic, positive, impact on the local watershed of Cache la Poudre. The project was completed in August of 2011. The students are especially grateful to Nutrien for sponsoring the Caring for our Watershed contest in Colorado and the $1,000 used to implement our Toilet Heroes Project at Greeley Central High School.

“Our goal is to save water to further help sustain our watershed.” -Alyson Foust.